Steyn spell sets up win, levels the series

NO REVIEW:Dale Steyn’s post-tea spell of great reverse-swing bowling came after he appealed vociferously in vain for a catch off Chris Rogers, who went on to score a ton

AFP, PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa

South Africa’s Dale Steyn celebrates taking the wicket of Australia captain Michael Clarke on the fourth day of the second Test in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on Sunday.

Photo: Reuters

Australia captain Michael Clarke paid tribute to a great spell of fast reverse-swing bowling by South Africa’s Dale Steyn after his side were bundled to defeat on the fourth day of the second Test at St George’s Park on Sunday.

South Africa bowled out Australia for 216 to win by 231 runs, setting up a series decider in the third and final Test in Cape Town, starting on Saturday.

Australia lost nine wickets after tea, with Steyn claiming four of them, including that of Clarke for 1.

“We were outplayed with both bat and ball,” Clarke said.

He said the key was the fast reverse-swing bowling of all three South Africa pacemen, but he singled out Steyn for special praise.

“You’ve seen a class bowler bowling consistently at 140, 145ks [kph], executing his skills as well as you will see in international cricket.”

In contrast, the Australia bowlers were unable to get any reverse-swing, he acknowledged.

Set 448 to win, Australia seemed to be cruising at 141-1 at tea after Chris Rogers and David Warner had put on 126 for the first wicket, scoring at more than four runs an over.

Once the wickets started to fall, Rogers fought a lone battle before being ninth man out, run out for 107.

“We knew the best time to bat in the second innings was against the new ball,” Clarke said. “We knew the hardest period was going to be once the ball got old and batsmen had to start their innings against reverse-swing.”

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said the turnaround after a 281-run defeat in the first Test at Centurion was a tribute to the resilience of his players.

“The week building up was a tough week for us. We needed to be smart, we needed to be clinical. We needed good ideas as to how we were going to respond. I don’t think many teams would have been able to respond from a defeat like we tasted,” Smith said.

He said the match had been set up by a solid first innings of 423, followed by good bowling.

“The intensity we showed with the ball in both innings was really impressive on a wicket which didn’t offer that much,” he said.

Steyn’s sensational post-tea spell came after he appealed vociferously for a catch behind when Rogers was on 69 in the over before tea.

With the St George’s Park band in full swing, the slip cordon did not hear what replays showed to be a faint edge and South Africa did not seek a review when Rogers was given not out.

Asked how angry Steyn had been after the missed opportunity, Smith said: “I think he goes from being very angry to extremely angry most of the time when he is bowling.”

“We always know that Dale is one spell away from creating something for us. It’s great to see when the game is on the line that he can respond like that,” he said.

Part-time off-spinner J.P. Duminy made the breakthrough when he trapped Warner leg before wicket for a sparkling 66, made off 73 balls.

South Africa took four top-order wickets for four runs after tea to swing the game in their favor, with Alex Doolan, Shaun Marsh, Clarke and Steve Smith falling for 5, 0, 1 and 0 respectively.

Mitchell Johnson stayed at the crease long enough to see Rogers to his century, but became a fourth leg-before-wicket victim.

Rogers, who scored only 10 runs in his first three innings of the series, looked in good touch from the start of his innings, taking advantage of some over-pitched deliveries early on and almost keeping pace with Warner during what was easily the most productive opening partnership by either side during the series.